Conchita in Indian Wells

By J.M.

What an amazing week for Conchita Martinez in Indian Wells! Her ranking is sure to improve as she has already defended points from a second round loss in last year’s event and has an even greater chance to improve when she takes on last year’s semi-finalist, Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi, in the fourth round!

After receiving a bye in the 1^st round, Martinez took the court as a favourite against up-and-coming French teenager, Virginie Razzano, mainly because she was seeded. However, the match turned into a highly competitive contest with both players trying to become the victor. The first set was extremely close but it was Razzano who demonstrated the extra edge and broke serve to take the set 7-5. On a roll, she then moved ahead to a 4-1 lead, leaving the veteran Spaniard bewildered and amazed at the talent of her opponent. In an unexpected twist, Martinez was able to fight back into the second set, and subsequently the match, with her high moonballs and slices that moved Razzano all around the court. A tiebreaker was then forced which Martinez capitalized on and then captured the match with a comfortable 6-3 third set scoreline.

Next up was Barbara Rittner of Germany, who had defeated the number 6^th seed here, Jelena Dokic, in three sets a couple of days earlier. High on confidence, she was a force to be reckoned with and this became evident when she broke Conchita’s serve three consecutive times to take the first set 6-0. In situations like this, many players are left with very low confidence levels and are never able to regain their composure to work their way back into the match. After a slow start, Martinez surprisingly worked her way back into the match once again and completed a 6-3 second set score. The same pattern followed and Conchita won the match in an unusual 0-6 6-3 6-3 result. Her reward: a 4^th round match up with Gagliardi.

Reaching the 4^th round of any tournament, particularly at Indian Wells and Key Biscayne, is an accomplishment several players unfortunately are never able to achieve. These types of matches are also exciting because it is at this stage in the tournament when high quality matches take place, regardless of their rank, as the players fight for a quarterfinal berth. This match up between Conchita and Emmanuelle should be no exception! Gagliardi, as well as Martinez, has fought very hard to progress through the draw as she too has played a tough three setter against the 19^th seed, Tatiana Panova, and has had other tight matches along the way. The fact that she made the semi-finals here last year and stretched the eventual champion, Daniela Hantuchova, before losing to her, has sure made her a favourite at Indian Wells and this could be the decisive factor in the match’s result.

Martinez and Gagliardi have only played once throughout their careers and that was at the 2001 Australian Open where Martinez, as the number 5^th seed, was upset by her Swiss opponent 5-7 6-3 8-6. This proves that Gagliardi can handle the big matches and will not be afraid of attacking any part of Conchita’s game. Hopefully Conchita’s ability to fight will allow her to win the match but Emmanuelle will be understandably fighting to the end to defend her semi-final appearance from last year and prove to the American crowd that she was not a “one-hit wonder” the previous year. Though at this tournament, it would be no surprise if she upset another couple of seeds along the way, including Conchita if she is not performing well or is clearly being outplayed. Regardless of this, a high quality match will definitely take place!

Prediction:

Martinez wins in 3 sets.

Visit the Conchita Martinez page here

Betting box Only one click and you're in the sports zone soccer tennis formula 1 boxing basketball a. football golf ice hockey horses specials FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCT